1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to display apparatuses and in-vehicle display apparatuses, and more particularly, to a display apparatus and an in-vehicle display apparatus in which a display portion moves with respect to a main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, display apparatuses have been rapidly widespread so as to watch car navigation maps or video images in vehicles. For example, an in-vehicle display apparatus is, in most cases, located in a dashboard part between the driver and the front-seat passenger. The in-vehicle apparatus is required to have a determined size, as viewed from the front surface. However, the display screen is demanded to be large at the same time. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 respectively show the in-vehicle display apparatus. The in-vehicle display apparatus is composed of: a display portion 100 that includes a display screen 102 and an operation button portion 150; and a main body 152 formed of a different chassis from the display portion 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the display portion 100 is provided in a stand-up manner with respect to the main body 152, and the back surface thereof covers the front surface of the main body 152. The display portion 100 displays images on the display screen in such state.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the display portion 100 is moved from the front surface of the main body 152, by tilting the display portion 100. The display portion 100 is made to face upward with the top side thereof situated at the side of the main body 152. An operating portion 154 is provided at the front surface of the main body 152. The operating portion 154 includes: an insertion slot 155 for, for example, Compact Disc (CD)/Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), an insertion slot 156 for Mini Disc (MD), a connector insertion slot 157 for a build-in Hard Disc Drive (HDD), an operation switch of a storage medium such as a memory card or the like, and other switches. When the display portion 100 is moved to face upward and laid down with respect to the front surface of the main body 152, the operating portion 154 provided at the front surface of the main body 152 is exposed, thereby allowing a user to operate the operating portion 154.
The in-vehicle display apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 includes: the display portion 100; and the main body 152. As shown in FIG. 1, when the display portion 100 displays an image, the display portion 100 covers the front surface of the main body 152 with the size of the display screen 102 of the display portion 100 substantially identical to the size viewed from the front surface thereof. Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 2, the operating portion 154 is arranged at the front surface of the main body 152. The display portion 100 is moved downward and tilted as the arrow indicates, so that the top portion of the display portion 100 is moved toward the bottom portion of the main body 152. Then, the operating portion 154 can be operated. At this time, a drive pin, not shown, formed at the side surface of the display portion 100 moves along a drive groove 153 formed in the main body 152, so that the display portion 100 moves from the front surface of the main body 152 to expose the operating portion 154. As stated, the size of the display screen 102 of the display portion 100 is configured to be substantially identical to that viewed from the front surface of the display apparatus, and the operating portion 154 can be operated.
There has been known a multi-view display with a liquid crystal panel having a parallax barrier on the front side thereof, as a so-called multi-view display having a common display screen, on which different images are respectively visible from different viewing directions (view angles). Different information (images) can be displayed on the right and left sides of the display screen by separating directions of lights through a backlight on a pixel basis (for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-78080). Such display is mounted on a vehicle, allowing the front-seat passenger to watch a TV program or another image, while the driver is checking a navigation map image.
With respect to the in-vehicle display apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, when the display portion 100 is tilted and moved from the front surface of the main body 152, the display portion 100 keeps facing upward and partially covers a portion of the front surface of the main body 152. This limits the region that can be used as the operating portion 154 arranged at the front surface of the main body 152. For example, the lights through the backlight are separated into left and right images, for example, when the multi-view display apparatus is employed for the in-vehicle display apparatus. So, there is a demand for an increase in the brightness of the backlight to increase the brightness of the backlight. In order to increase the brightness of the backlight, however, there should be provided a number of light emitting portions such as fluorescent tubes, white LEDs, or the like serving as light sources, thereby making the display portion 100 thicker. This also limits the region that can be used as the operation portion 154 arranged at the front surface of the main body 152.
In addition, when the storage medium such as CD, DVD, MD, or the like is inserted into or ejected from the insertion portion, the top portion of such moved and tilted display portion 100 gets in the way. For this reason, the display portion 100 needs to be moved and tilted sufficiently to be substantially vertical to the front surface of the main body 152. However, it takes time to drive the display portion 100 to the position where the display portion 100 is not in the way. This may make an operator feel uncomfortable.